Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films

[indycar]

Has anybody else on this website seen this documentary? If so, what were some things you remembered from it.

Some I remember:
-After the two partners split up, they released competing films (on the same day) about the dance lambada.
-Menahem Golan talking to an orangutan directly about starring in a film.

It is available on Netflix.

 

[Tosk]

Yes, I have seen it. I enjoyed it. You should also check out his first doco, "Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!" There is a second one too, (Machete Maidens Unleashed) but I didn't care for it as much.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

The Ozploitation one was fun and I can only imagine Cannon movies would be as well; I'll have to look for that.

 

[Gaith]

Super entertaining doc, and a fun surprise (to me) to see Sirtis in there.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

Probably more entertaining than most of their movies though I did really like Lifeforce for some reason . I have never seen the Hercules with Lou Ferrigno. That scene where he punches the bear into outer space leaves me speechless. Now I probably have to watch the whole movie.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

Funny that I literally JUST saw the RedLetterMedia review of that. Mike said it was good. That makes me want to check it out.

Why, yes, I am that shallow. An internet critic I love says something's great, and I'll go watch it. Also, he made two Beastie Boys references in his Interstellar review, which is AWESOME enough for capslock. XD

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Probably more entertaining than most of their movies though I did really like Lifeforce for some reason . I have never seen the Hercules with Lou Ferrigno. That scene where he punches the bear into outer space leaves me speechless. Now I probably have to watch the whole movie.

There's actually TWO Ferrigno Hercules movies. I usually can't watch the whole things but I love the drawn SFX that even movies like Highlander had back in the day.

The best old Ferrigno is his Sinbad movie. If you could only watch one that's the best/worst.

 

[Awesome Possum]

I saw it a while ago. Great documentary. The cousins who owned Cannon recently put out their own documentary about themselves. I haven't seen it yet though.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Saw the doc and it brings a lot of nostalgia for those old movies. I was trying to think if there was anything like Cannon and Empire Pictures and Dino de Laurentis and their earnest brand of trash and I think the closest nowadays might actually be Michael Bay. Any other thoughts? There's stuff like The Asylum but they seem to aspire to transcend the guaranteed profits of their limited investments.

 

[B.J.]

Confession time: I actually saw Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo in the movie theater.

 

[Aldo]

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I just added it to my Netflix que.

Growing up in the Eighties I'm extremely familiar with Cannon films, so this should be a fun watch.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Saw the doc and it brings a lot of nostalgia for those old movies. I was trying to think if there was anything like Cannon and Empire Pictures and Dino de Laurentis and their earnest brand of trash and I think the closest nowadays might actually be Michael Bay. Any other thoughts? There's stuff like The Asylum but they seem to aspire to transcend the guaranteed profits of their limited investments.

Bay would be closest in terms of lack of plot, explosions and violence. There isn't really a lot of nudity, which I felt was part of Cannon's standards.

I'm actually shocked that Michael Bay hasn't tried to reboot Death Wish. By the end, they were just excuses to film explosions and squibs going off while stunt men fell backwards. He could only elevate the material given his track record.

 

[Gaith]

Saw the doc and it brings a lot of nostalgia for those old movies. I was trying to think if there was anything like Cannon and Empire Pictures and Dino de Laurentis and their earnest brand of trash and I think the closest nowadays might actually be Michael Bay. Any other thoughts? There's stuff like The Asylum but they seem to aspire to transcend the guaranteed profits of their limited investments.

As the movie makes plain, the guys' whole business model was built on selling "trash" to unsuspecting foreign markets, much more so than selling trash to us Yanks here at home. Well, those markets have wised up; their buyers stopped buying trash. The Asylum has a similar model in that they try to trick people into buying/renting their cheapie movies, but, as you say, the profits have grown small.

 

[publiusr]

One of my favorite films on films is The Kid Stays in the Picture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kid_Stays_in_the_Picture

Hoffman did an impersonation of Evans that was spot on:

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[Awesome Possum]

Patton Oswalt has an amazing bit on Robert Evans reading his memoirs.

I do wish that the documentary had focused more on the director of the Death Wish films being a complete creep. He refused to give an actress a blanket between takes for a nude scene on a cold night because he wanted her to look cold.

 

[Aragorn]

So recently there was news about the return of Cannon with movies like American Ninja Apprentice and Return of the Delta Force, but nope, it's a new studio named Cannon looking to pay homage to (or ride the coattails of) The Cannon Group.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

So recently there was news about the return of Cannon with movies like American Ninja Apprentice and Return of the Delta Force, but nope, it's a new studio named Cannon looking to pay homage to (or ride the coattails of) The Cannon Group.

In practice, at this stage, it would probably end up being the same thing either way.

 

[Awesome Possum]

I want a remake of The Apple.

 

[Aldo]

I finally got around to watching this and it brought back a lot of memories. I had the (mis?)fortune of seeing a lot of their mid to late 80s output and for me they were just some of the greatest films I had seen at the time. Of course I was young and didn't know any better, but this documentary has really wanted me to check out some of the movies I never got around to seeing.

Invasion U.S.A. looks especially interesting.

 

[Awesome Possum]

There's a Best of the Worst where they cover it and Death Wish 3. Invasion USA is pretty much a series of action scenes where Chuck Norris just happens to show up and save the day at the critical moment. There's really no plot and Norris is incapable of acting.

Death Wish 3 just looks amazing. It's Home Alone with guns and escalating violence that starts are over the top and goes into comically absurd.

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